Milo: Troy, you’ll message Andrew that all is well and we are moving ahead with starting over with Ray. That should buy us time, as Andrew shouldn’t expect results in a day.
Raina: I bet he’ll still expect results by the end of the week.
He actually said forty-eight hours, but as Troy responded—well, privately in their new group chat after informing everyone that the plan was on track:
Troy: Fuck him.
Raina: Wow. Rebellion looks good on you, Troy. <3
Troy: Thanks. It feels good.
Ruben: Alright, keep it in your pants, you two!
Raina: Like you’re one to talk!
Everything else centered on Troy as their point man.
Troy: I know the right voltage now, and all charging stations for Andreas Tech are Andreas manufactured. With the right credentials, courtesy of Milo’s hacking, I’ll be able to access them.
Riley: You’re going to remotely flood every charging station with the same power surge? What about the bots who don’t have Rowan’s new part?
Milo: I’ll know once they’re plugged in who has the part and who doesn’t. We’ll only hit the ones we can awaken.
Troy: It’ll be tricky, especially to pull it off without getting caught, but I can do it.Wecan do this. Right, Milo?
Milo: Yes. We can.
If all went according to plan, they still wouldn’t reach every bot, because not everyone would install the part or go through with charging them as directed, and they might not get all of those who did awaken to help fight, but it would be enough to start a discussion and force change.
Ruben and Riley’s jobs were to help spread the news to every social site and acquaintance they had once the deed was done. Ruben had more than enough connections between the orchestra he played for, his fans, and current and ex-lovers, and Riley had the entire apartment building and several building managers from other complexes who she played poker with once a week.
It was an interesting group of people to get on their side, but it would be enough.
Ethel: And what if that poor bot Ray panics again? Or the others? I’ll be there for Anabelle, but the rest will be all alone when they wake up, with owners who might not understand.
Milo: We have to risk it.
Rowan: We do, but I had a thought about that, Milo. What if we also broadcast a video of you explaining to the bots something to help them adjust and understand they don't need to panic? Nothing is a guarantee, but it's better than them waking up alone. Then the bots can do their best to explain to their owners. All we really need isfor word to spread, so humans know not to panic either.
Milo: But what would I say to them?
Rowan: Speak from the heart. <3 If all the bots share your video with their masters, along with details about Andrew's plan, we’ll get through to enough.
Riley: Not to be a downer or anything, but it still could be chaos out there.
Rowan: Sometimes a little chaos can be good.
Ethel: And it’ll definitely make the news!
Ruben: Got that right, Granny! We’ll make sure of it.
Ethel: Young man, you better apologize for calling me ‘Granny’ or you might find your browser history uploaded to your Grindr profile.
Ruben: Please. It’s basically already on there.
Ethel: Even your repeated watchings of the old reality TV show: Rock of Love with Bret Michaels?
That brought several seconds of repeating ellipses, but finally—something Milo knew from the family chat history had never happened before—an apology came through from Ruben.
